Bible Guys Classics: Acts 4:23–31

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and

practical ways. Hey, everybody. Thanks for tuning in to another

episode of The Bible Guys.

Yeah.

I'm Chris.

And I'm Wesley.

And so we're here. We're your Bible Guys this week

because Jeff's out of town. And we're in the middle

of a series called Dangerous Prayers.

Yeah.

But before we do that, we have a segment called

Hot Takes Showdown. This is a newer segment. Have you

ever done this one?

You know, I've never done this one. Okay.

So it says, and so Desiree says, I'll give you

a controversial statement. And you must either defend it or

debunk it. And get this, no middle ground.

Okay.

So you got to go after it.

Yeah.

So whatever opinion you have.

This is it.

Go after it with reckless abandon.

Okay.

Here we go. Ready? Here's the first statement.

Okay.

Crocs are fashionable.

Oh, that's easy. No. Yeah. They are not fashionable. They

might be comfortable. Yeah. But they are not fashionable. Yeah.

So I'm a hard no on the Crocs. And my

daughter loves Crocs. Yeah. Like when we like go on

vacation or whatever, she'll... Throw all the Crocs in the suitcase. So, yeah,

but I'm a hard no on the fashionable aspect. Yeah. Now,

what about..

I'm so sorry. This low lighting room is killing me.

Yeah.

What about Crocs with no socks? Wait, people wear.

Crocs with socks?

All the time. Oh, no.

That is a major faux pas.

Yeah.

No, no socks with crocs. No socks with sandals of

any kind.

I agree.

And I'm putting crocs in the sandals category.

And so I tell you what, I like to be controversial.

I would like to go the other way and say

crocs are fashionable, but they're the worst. So yeah, I'm

with you on that. That's my hot take as well.

Oh, that is fun.

All right, you want to do the second one?

Okay. The moon landing was filmed, but not faked. It

was just really boring, so they reshot it.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, so it's not safe that the brain- Have we

talked about this before?

I don't think so. Does Desiree choose this because she

knows this is a hot topic?

Yeah.

I'm not sure how well Desiree knows on this area.

I'd be very interested to hear a serious take on

this for you.

Yeah. So I'm in the camp. I don't believe it

was faked.

Okay. Was there something filmed that wasn't the actual moon landing?

And was that part of the equation?

See, that's a different conversation.

No, that's what she said.

Well, so as far as did they walk on the moon?

Did they? I believe that 100% that that happened. This

is a more complex question. And the reason I say

that is, You got to remember where the United States

was at the time with Russia, the Cold War, the

space race, and all of that. The U.S. would have

done whatever was necessary to cast a positive light on

the mission. So could there have been some photo touch-ups

or something? Quite possibly. I don't know. But that could

very well be possible. But as it relates to did

they actually go to the moon, I think they actually

went to the moon.

You know, it's, you know, it's, you know, it's interesting is, um, so, uh, uh,

50 years ago, even, even 30 years ago before the internet, um,

there was really no debate at all about whether there

was any conspiracy for moon landing. Right. Yeah. I mean,

we haven't, we haven't heard this until probably the last, what,

10 years? Yeah. Uh, probably the last five years, really

a lot, depending on, you know, your, your chat thread

or your algorithm.

Yeah.

Some of you, you're like, this is a thing, right? Yeah.

But you have no algorithm, you know, whatever. That's fine.

But once you sort of dive down the.

Hole, I was going to say, go down the rabbit.

Trail, then all of a sudden that the algorithm on

your social media brings everything up. And because I went

down the rabbit hole, I've seen everything there is to

see just about, I have seen every single conspiracy theory real.

And I've seen, I would say almost as much, not

quite as much, but almost as much defensive reels, right?

Yeah.

Like this is absolute proof that we've gone to the moon. Yeah.

You know, just, you know, science, you know, all the

science behind everything, right?

Yeah.

And so here's what I find very interesting.

Yeah.

I find very interesting. I'll just say this. Yeah.

That..

So let's pretend you're NASA. Okay. And all of a sudden,

and by the way, NASA claims currently, this is all fact.

You can Google all this. NASA currently claims, number one,

they're like, hey, where's the technology to go back to

the moon? They literally say, this is their official statement.

It got lost somehow.

Yeah.

And they say, well, do we have the technology to

go back to the moon? And they go, no. And

they say, why? And they say, well, we lost it.

We don't know. And they say, okay, well, let's review

original tapes. And they say they were misplaced. They don't

know where they are. So nothing exists.

Yeah.

Okay. Now, that's just a fact. Now, your opinion about that,

I don't know.

Yeah. Okay.

They also say, you know, back in the 60s, with

less technology that was in this phone, we were able

to get past the, you know, that radiation barrier. Yeah.

You know, the humans and get to the moon. Uh,

somehow with technology in, in a little chef, you know,

shuttle that looked like it was a tin can.

Yeah.

And now here we are, you know, almost a hundred

years later, it seems like, what is it? 80 years later. And, uh,

and we can't even come close to doing that. So

we've not sent anybody back. Right.

Yeah.

And, and all the technology is lost. Now, right then

and there, you can have your opinions. And then if

you want to analyze all the, all the, the footage

and everything else. And so I'm just, so I see

very compelling things for, I see very compelling things against.

So if you're NASA and you have the entire world

beating down on your door saying, I can't believe that

you lied to us, just prove that you went. And then,

of course, you have Buzz Aldrin, who's publicly said that

it was a hoax. He's online saying, we didn't go.

He said that three times. He said that publicly. And

people are like, oh, he's crazy, that old man, right?

Yeah.

And so you have all these things. So if you're

NASA and you have all this controversy, right? Why would

you allow the film that was just made by Channing

Tatum and Scarlett Johansson called Fly Me to the Moon?

Why would you allow that to be filmed on NASA property?

Yeah.

Do you know what the film's about?

No. Okay.

We're only at six minutes, so I'll make this very quickly. Basically,

it's about... What they're saying is it's not based on

a true story, right? But basically what they're saying is

they made a movie that says, no, the filming was real,

but because the moon landing was real, it was absolutely

what happened.

Yeah.

But because they were worried that it might not have

been able to happen, they hired the Scarlett Johansson person

to hire a director and they created a movie set.

And so all those controversial tapes where it says, he's

on wires. Yeah. Look, you can tell there's a wire.

This movie said, no, there was a set. And so

they filmed it and they went live to the nation

on set. Right. And then all of a sudden when

they landed, they're like, switch over, switch over. And then

they switched over.

Yeah.

And so, and so what they did was that movie

somehow just planted like a solution to the controversy that says, oh, okay.

I guess both were true.

Yeah.

Right? I guess there was a set for all the

film analysis people that are like, here's the 10 things

that prove this is fake.

Yeah.

This film said, oh, both things happened at once.

Yeah.

And NASA agreed to have that film be filmed on

NASA property.

Yeah.

Now, if there was no set, Why would you ever

entertain the idea implanted in the American public that there

was a set? Yeah. And by the way, of all

the things, and it sounds crazy because I'm a Hollywood guy. Yeah.

Of all the things that I'm confused about, that's the

biggest one. Yeah. NASA said yes to that film. And

it's like, why would you ever do that? Dude, if I'm,

if I'm, if I'm standing on the truth, I'm, I'm,

I'm going, I'm doubling down.

Yeah.

And I'm saying there is no guys, there is no

way this is fake.

Yeah.

Right. And, and, and come on, there was nothing was

faked in front of the public eye instead. They're like, yeah,

come film.

I think you're a private investigator in your part time. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, okay. Listen, we have, we have, we have 15

seconds for your response.

Yeah.

What is your hot take on my little NASA thing?

So I think the idea of having a backup is

plausible in terms of American morale during that period when

we were up against the Russians. So they had already

got Sputnik.

But they didn't admit that that film was real.

So, no, I... But I believe that it's plausible that

someone thought, hey, we probably need to have a backup

in case things go wrong. That's plausible. Sure. In understanding

how things were in that period.

And I think that's the reason why the movie was made. Yeah.

Because of what you just said. But that's not my question. Yeah.

My question is, NASA denies it. They said there was

no set. So why would they allow that film to

be filmed?

Yeah, I think if... In some classified archive. someone knows

the truth. All right.

All right. Well, that is definitely a hot take topic. Yeah.

Desiree did good on that one. All right.

Well, let's go ahead and move on because even though

that is super controversial, you know what else is controversial?

Acts chapter four.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know about that one. Well, no, no, no,

it is.

Yeah. They pray for boldness, even though they're being persecuted.

Yeah.

That's a dangerous prayer. That's pretty controversial.

That is true. It's a stretch, but it's true.

Okay. Well, hey, it's a bad transition. Yeah.

So here we go. Acts chapter four, verses 23 through 31.

And it says, as soon as they were freed, Peter

and John returned to the other believers and told them

what the leading priests and elders had said. When they

heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together

in prayers to God. O sovereign Lord, creator of heaven

and earth, the sea and everything in them, you spoke

long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David,

your servant, saying, Why are the nations so angry? Why

did they waste their time with futile plans? The kings

of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together

against the Lord and against his Messiah. Verse 27. In fact,

This has happened here in this very city. For Herod Antipas,

Pontius Pilate, the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of

Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom

you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according

to your will. And now, O Lord, hear their threats

and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

Stretch out your hand with healing power. May your miraculous

signs and wonders be done through the name of your

holy servant, Jesus. After this prayer, the meeting place shook

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then

they preached the word of God with boldness. Yeah, that

was good.

Yeah, it's really good. And the context is in chapter

four earlier, it says Peter and John went before the council.

So they went to the council of all the rulers

and elders and teachers of the religious law and they

met in Jerusalem. So they were being, you know, tried.

They were being accused. And so they didn't back down.

Yeah.

And so I want to read this note here in

the Transformation Study Bible. It says, covering verses 19 through 22,

it says, The failure of the council was evident when

Peter refused to be intimidated by their threats. All we

need to do is follow Peter's example to make our

decisions on the basis of, is it right? And not,

is it popular? Or is it safe? We must be sure, however,

that we have clear teaching of the Word of God

on our side before we take a stand against the

authority of the government. Peter knew what the Lord had

commanded believers to do in Acts 1, verse 8, for

Acts 1:8

he was going to obey Him at any cost. And

so I love the, I love that the idea that

like Peter and John were accused, they stood up and

then they, they said this prayer after they were freed,

which is why it started by you saying, as soon

as they were freed, right. Peter and John returned. Um,

you know, it's interesting, uh, in our nation, uh, last weekend, uh,

we made a statement about all the horrible things that

were going on in our nation. And, uh, and to

be honest with you, uh, It's always a difficult thing.

Whenever something happens that shakes our nation to the core

of its faith and everything else, it's like people are

feeling a lot of different things and you want to

address it. But at the same time, if you're a leader,

and by the way, that doesn't just mean church leader.

It means if you're like a person on the news

or Jimmy Kimmel, right? I mean, he's in the news

today because of me, right? We all have to make

choices about what we're going to say and the stand

that we're going to take. And to be honest with you,

it wasn't. So we made a statement at our church,

but it wasn't political. It wasn't about right or left.

It wasn't about what happened to our nation according to

all these arguments of agreeing or disagreeing. It wasn't about that.

And that's one thing that I like about heritage is

the fact that we don't take a political stance. If

anyone wants to know what stance we take, it's that

we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the stance

that we take.

And if it is a political topic, we will preach

from the Bible.

Yes.

And one of the things that I was always so

impressed with is Jeff Forrester, our lead pastor, says, he goes, hey,

he goes, instead of getting up there and using politically

charged words, he said, those are man-made words. So why

would I use politically charged words that everybody has their

own interpretation of what they're gonna attach to those words.

He says, instead, here's what I do. He goes, I

preach on the same topic, only I use Bible words.

And he goes, so if you ever wonder what we believe,

he goes, you can't yell at me, because I didn't

write it. I didn't write the Bible. He goes, I'm

just gonna preach the Bible, use Bible words, and it

could be the same exact topic, and I'll preach the Bible.

He goes, so there's no question of what we believe.

So if somebody says, oh, pick a candidate, It's like, well,

you can probably guess which candidate we're going to vote

for based on what we have preached and what we believe, right?

Because we're just going to preach the Bible and we're

going to let you put two and two together because

after all, that's what every believer is called to do anyway.

And I didn't mean to get on a topic rant.

In fact, that wasn't even my focus or a political rant.

I wasn't even trying to do that. What I was

trying to say is this. We made a statement that

wasn't right or left or anything like that. We made

a statement and said, it's not important about you know,

whether you agree or disagree, the important thing is how

do you act, interact, and react when you disagree, right?

Because that's what Christ calls us to do. So it

doesn't matter what the topic is. Yeah. When you disagree,

the initiative is clear, right? This is how you should behave. Yes.

As ladies and gentlemen, you can still disagree with somebody

and worship them with them side by side, right? You

don't have to have acts of violence, right? and hatred, right?

It's like Christ calls the church to be the church

no matter what. And that was sort of our statement

in our prayer, right? Help us to be a nation

that is willing to do that. Well, the idea of

even making any kind of statement publicly, you have to

go back to sort of this idea, which is like,

am I going to do this? And then you have

to ask yourself the question, is this the right thing

to do? And is it the wrong thing to do

to be too cowardice not to say anything? Or do

you figure out a hard way and do the hard

work to be able to say, no, this is the

right thing to do. And we're going to put all

the work into it. Dude, it took us hours to

come up with a three minute response, hours of conversation.

But because we felt like this is the right thing

to do. And so we want to stand on the

side of what is right. And we said what we meant.

We didn't say anything wrong. and it wasn't charged in

any way. We just wanna say what we feel like

God wants us to say to the people who are

fearful and going through a lot of different things, right?

And it's not based on one event. I mean, there

were things that happened in our country that go back

a month and a half ago that are very, very disturbing.

And people are having a really hard time, right? But

you stand up for what is right. You do what

is right.

Yeah, verse 29, just to dig into that, it says,

And now, O Lord, hear their threats and give us

your servants great boldness in preaching your word. For some reason,

when I read that, I think of a person at

work in the context of Jesus not being convenient. Sometimes

when you work out in the world, it's easier not

to mention Jesus, not to mention that you go to work.

to go to church, not to mention that you're in

a small group. It's just easier sometimes in the workplace

to kind of I think of Homer, you know that

meme of Homer Simpson going back into the bushes? Yes.

He just kind of... So good. Yeah. So good.

Because it's attached to so many different things. Yeah. It's

so good.

But that's what it reminds me of when I read this, that,

you know, sometimes it's easier to not say that you're

a follower of Jesus. Like when Peter was confronted... Aren't

you one of those followers of Jesus? No, I never

met the man, you know, that kind of thing. So

I think they're saying here is in times like that,

you need to have boldness.

That's right.

You need to speak up. There could be someone in

your workplace that is going through something and they find

out that you're a Christian. And they're like, man, I

can go to that person for advice. I can go

to that person for some godly counsel. I can go

to that person for help. But it's going to take

a little bit of boldness on your part to make

that be known. Yeah.

And you know what the funny thing is, is people,

most people, most people... um, they will follow if somebody

first steps up.

Yeah.

Right. So I'm not saying that you have to be

this great and courageous leader of, of people, right. To,

to lead them a great big movement.

Yeah. We're not saying go to work with a big

house Bible under your arm and like all of those things.

We're not, but you know, in a social setting, most

people have a tendency to just be quiet. until like,

you know, somebody speaks up and I can't even tell you,

I'm a speak up kind of person. So I can't

even tell you the number of times in my entire

life where I've been in a setting, a public setting

where there's either a handful or a larger group of

people in the room and, and something's happening and it's

going one way and it's a negative way or a

wrong way. And then I'm looking around going, is anybody

going to say anything?

Yeah.

And so then I'll speak up. And as soon as

I speak up, like 10 other people are like, yeah,

I feel that way also. Yeah.

And it's like, well, why didn't you say anything?

But it's like, I don't have to be a great

leader of this movement. Yeah. I just have to voice

my opinion and just be bold enough. Which is what

Peter is saying. Peter is saying, let us be bold.

Of course, this is the context of like, let us

be bold in the sense to where we may lose

our lives.

Yeah.

We may go to prison.

There's a great cost to this.

There's a great cost.

Even in the workplace, there could be a great cost.

You don't want to be kind of ostracized. Right. You know,

you don't want to be the, oh, you're one of

those Jesus people, one of those holy rollers, you know,

so yeah.

Yeah, there could be a little bit of a cost, right? Yeah.

Or a big cost. Yeah. But yeah, when it comes

down to being bold about your faith and especially when

it comes to standing up for what is right, if

you're a believer and follower of Christ and you know

what the right thing to do is, then just know

that like, hey, it's easier to live your life doing

what's right and just accepting the consequences than it is

to live your life in the shadows of in the

cowardice of being too afraid to ever do what is right.

Yeah, in the safe zone, just living your life in

that as a safe area.

Yeah, that's right.

No, that's good.

Yep. Well, hey, that's a great place to end. And

hopefully we will see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in

on The Bible Guys.